In my reading, I've seen a couple methods to remove the old wax prior to doing a hot wax on your board. Although using a base cleaner seems to be the most common (and what I've been using), the other I've seen is to use a brass brush. Are we talking about a brush with actual brass bristles? I know this is probably pretty self explanatory, but it just doesn't seem like I'd want to use metal on my board. I'd also love to hear any pros and cons for using a base cleaner versus a brass brush.

You don't use one over the other. Use the brass brush first to try and get old wax out, then wipe down with base cleaner. Repeat this twice. Make sure to give adequate time for base cleaner to evaporate before you try and hot wax.

A Brass brush is used before you apply wax. this brush removes all dirt and crap from the base so that way you can apply wax on a clean surface.

If u really want to clean out old wax then do the hot scrape method.
Apply wax, heat it in with an iron, and while the wax is still warm and moldy, immediately scrape it off. The warm wax will stick to the old wax and when u scrape it, the warm wax will pull out the old wax and therefore it cleans out the pores

Great, thanks for the clarification. It seemed like all the instructions on this I've read either use the brass brush or the base cleaner, but not both. . .the step may have just been left out. I did just read about the hot scrape method. I may have to give that a try.

So, I'm kind of assuming no direct response means yes, but just to clarify, a brass brush is indeed a brush with brass bristles, correct?

Great, thanks for the clarification. It seemed like all the instructions on this I've read either use the brass brush or the base cleaner, but not both. . .the step may have just been left out. I did just read about the hot scrape method. I may have to give that a try.

So, I'm kind of assuming no direct response means yes, but just to clarify, a brass brush is indeed a brush with brass bristles, correct?

you can use the brass brush to remove dirt from the base and then the base cleaner to dissolve the rest.
But a brass brush is really all that you need to reapply wax after riding. The base cleaner will just be overkill.

If ur planning on stripping your entire base to do a thorough wax job then you can use base cleaner...but be aware that base cleaners dry out your base.

If ur planning on stripping your entire base to do a thorough wax job then you can use base cleaner...but be aware that base cleaners dry out your base.

I agree completely. If you wax your board regularly, you are making your board faster every time. The more waxes, the faster you can go. Pro racers may put 60 waxes on before ever riding their skis, just as prep. As soon as you use a base cleaner, you are pretty much cutting down on the affect numerous waxes have benefitted you, and are drying out your base.

You dont want to suck the wax out of the base of the board, you just want to remove any wax sitting on top of the base so that the base material and structure are exposed to the snow. The newspaper would act the same way as using Fiberlene does. I would also think that the inks from the paper would end up staining the base of the board.